International Workshop on Teaching in Photovoltaics 2002 u demonstračního fotovoltaického systému na střeše FEL ČVUT
The accredited Photovoltaic Systems Diagnostics Laboratory celebrates 15 years
Researchers from FEE were increasingly approached by people from industry and investors in photovoltaics who wanted expert advice. One of these companies was Decci. In 2010, it began building a 35-megawatt photovoltaic power plant near the village of Vepřek in the Mělník region, which at the time was one of the largest power plants of its kind not only in the Czech Republic but also in Europe. "Innovation is part of our lives, not just behind laboratory walls, and I am delighted that we have been able to put this idea into practice together with CTU for almost two decades," says Darina Merdassi, Director of Decca.
"At that time, we realised that we needed to be able to carry out proper diagnostics independently of foreign laboratories so that we didn't have to send the modules to Germany at great expense," recalls Prof. Benda. “Decci therefore invested five million Czech crowns in the construction of an accredited Photovoltaic System Diagnostics Laboratory. Dr Ladislava Černá, who is currently the head of the laboratory, did a tremendous amount of work on this.”
Although the laboratory was established thanks to a private donation, this was only the beginning of its journey. The laboratory gradually expanded its activities, and in 2015 it extended its activities to the testing of converters and electrochemical sources (batteries), purchased equipment for measuring outdoor installations, and began to establish itself as a multidisciplinary workplace. Today, it has a stable position and its staff deal with a wide range of issues in various aspects related to photovoltaics, whether it be the actual operation and diagnostics or the design phase, operational safety, legislation, subsidies and the economics of operation. The latest development is the accreditation of converter testing, which now enables it to test class A1 and A2 production modules (converters) for compliance with PPDS.
Leading foreign experts at FEE CTU
Research activities in the field of photovoltaics continued to grow. And so, five years later, in 2016, the Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (CAP) was established at FEE CTU. To this day, it brings together leading experts from CTU in Prague and abroad. The unique combination of experts in the fields of materials and architecture brings new opportunities for the use of photovoltaics.
The very beginning of CAP is linked to a project within the Ministry of Education's Research, Development and Education (VVV) operational programme, which aimed to bring leading foreign scientists to Czech workplaces and build a stable team around them.
"A relatively large number of us travelled to the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, where Prof. Tom Markvart, who became the leader of CAP, was working at the time (and still works today)," recalls Dr Ladislava Černá from the Department of Electrical Engineering at CTU. The delegation also included the then Dean of FEL, Prof. Ripka, without whom, according to Dr. Černá, CAP would probably never have been established, and many other colleagues from various workplaces, including Prof. Polcar, who also works in Southampton and at FEE.
“Until then, the future members of the CAP research team did not know each other. It seemed very diverse, and no one really believed that a project composed of so many different people (and somewhat different worlds) could ever succeed,” says Dr. Černá, adding that there were not many projects at the Department of Electrical Engineering at the time. The head of the department, Prof. Karel Dušek, had been in office for a relatively short time, and structural funds were new to CTU because the previous operational programme was not accessible to Prague.
“When I called Karel Dušek at the end of 2016 to tell him that I had news, and I didn’t know if it was good or bad, because ‘CAP had been published’, he thought I was joking. No one could really imagine what it would mean. Honestly, neither could I. We went through a lot during the seven years the project was in progress. First came Brexit, which meant complications in our cooperation with Southampton, then COVID, which put a stop to further cooperation, and the rest of the fun was provided by our ministry with rules that were not very compatible with what Tom Markvart was used to in England. But in the end, we managed everything, and I am very pleased that the main idea of the project – to build a stable, albeit diverse, team that will continue to develop – has been fully realised," concludes Dr Černá.
Curiosities from the life of a photovoltaics expert
When talking about the history of photovoltaic research at FEE, Professor Benda also recalled that they often went on field trips with students. One of these trips stuck in his memory.
"We went to see how a photovoltaic system for local lighting had been built in one village. But when we got there, we immediately noticed that next to the photovoltaic system, there was a wind turbine stacked in a pile," says Prof. Benda, adding that they naturally asked about it. "The owner was very upset because when they started up the wind turbine, the hens in the whole village stopped laying eggs. They were probably bothered by the infrasound emitted by the wind turbine. So he had to dismantle it. He mentioned that it would be more cost-effective to buy eggs than to move the entire power plant outside the village." However, the photovoltaic system did not bother the hens, and they started laying eggs again.
Every year, a large number of foreign students come to FEE ČVUT. Based on the studies of PhD student H. Elminir from Egypt at FEL, Prof. Benda was invited to visit the NRIEG institute in Helwan (Cairo), where they prepared an interesting programme for him. It was an excursion to a photovoltaic system in the Kharga Oasis area, where he was to help with its diagnostics.
"They took me to a village that received a power plant as a gift from France to the Egyptian people in the 1990s. A 60-watt system was installed on all 90 houses with one goal: to light up the evening with energy-saving light bulbs. However, no one maintained the solar panels, and no one really understood how they worked. This led to situations where, for example, they plugged a mixer into the socket
and blew the converter," says Prof. Benda. "The curious thing was that they told me I didn't need to bring any equipment with me, that they had everything. And they had nothing, no measuring instruments, yet I had to report my findings to the regional governor in the evening," he added.
Photo Credit: Petr Neugebauer
